


A Return to Normalcy

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Drama, F/M, Family, Missing Scene, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-12
Updated: 2014-10-12
Packaged: 2018-02-20 18:32:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2438642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something about it felt happy and sad at the same time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Return to Normalcy

**Author's Note:**

> This is the Season 7 premiere shaken, stirred, and frapped to fit into my already established fanon universe. I was not overly fond (OK I hated) the Emily is a secret agent/fake dead storyline. I couldn’t avoid some bits of it and totally avoided others. I did the best I could to stick to the storyline I'd already established before any of the other stuff ever happened. The timeline is mangled as hell, forgive me. The title comes from Warren G. Harding’s 1920 campaign promise.

“You're breaking the rules.” Hotch said, smiling as he walked into the den carrying a tray with hot tea and snacks.

“I haven’t held my daughter in almost two months.” Emily replied. “Rules and everything else be damned.”

“It looks good to see you holding her.”

“I can't believe I'm home. We let this go on for too long.” She stopped herself from saying he let it go on for too long. She never wanted to be away.

“It’s over now.”

“I'm thinking its not.” Emily said.

Her husband nodded solemnly. Then he took their daughter, just a couple of weeks shy of her first birthday, from her arms. Both Hotch and Emily thought they might miss the big day. He was working in Pakistan and she was hiding in Bonn. The past six months had been stressful on the couple, their family, and their team.

The reemergence of Ian Doyle over a decade after disappearing into the night turned her whole world upside down. Emily had to open a vault she thought might remain closed forever. She actually hoped it would. One assignment that started with an undercover operation out of the St. Louis FBI field office then spiraled out of control all the way to London, Glasgow, Belfast, and places unknown, put everyone she loved in danger. She remembered Hotch’s reaction when she had to tell him that this was something that needed to be finished.

_“We have a family, Emily.”_

“Who do you think I'm doing this for? Doyle probably already knows that I have children. You think he doesn’t want to avenge the death of his own?”

“I will not lose you or the kids.” Hotch took both of her hands and held on tight. “I’ll kill Doyle myself first.”

“This is not your fight. You can't save me if it’s not meant to be.” Emily’s voice cracked and she took a deep breath. “This has to be done; the consequences are the consequences. I didn’t have this life when this journey began. I have to protect Sabrina and Jack.”

She knew Hotch would either try to stop or try to help so Emily went after Doyle on her own. In hindsight, she regretted that decision. Hindsight was always 20-20. She’d been severely injured, many thought she was dead. Her team thought so for nearly two months, until Garcia started putting two and two together through a paper trail. Once the team confronted Hotch, hearts were broken and so was trust.

But Emily was alive. They weren't the only ones upset. She didn’t like the idea of hiding out somewhere when she could be finishing off Doyle. But those decisions were made without her knowledge and consent. By the time she knew it was too late.

How long did Hotch think he could hide her? The whole thing made little sense to her. Two weeks ago she came back. Declan Doyle was in danger and Emily Prentiss wasn’t a hider. It was the first time in six months she’d seen her team.

The family reunion was happy even if the tension was palpable. All of that had to be brushed aside to save Declan Doyle. Now he was safe, Ian was dead, and the BAU survived a Senate committee that made the Strauss interrogation over Foyet look like a Monty Python skit. That didn’t mean it was over by a long shot.

Hotch lay Bree in her playpen before sitting beside Emily on the couch. He wrapped his arms around her, leaned back, and just breathed. How much more would they have to go through? Every year there seemed to be something else threatening to destroy the tender foundation on which they built their life together.

First Hotch was blown up. Then Emily’s close friend was murdered and Hotch’s old nemesis returned. The Reaper went to prison, escaped, and made their lives a living hell. It was always something and the ‘fun’ didn’t seem to be ending.

“Do you think Morgan will ever forgive us?” Emily asked, never wanting to let him go.

Yes, she had been pissed about sending her to Bonn to convalesce and telling the people she cared about that she was dead. She had been madder than she’d ever been at him. But Hotch was doing it to protect her, to protect their children. That didn’t make it right but it was already done. It would be the last decision he ever made without her if he wanted to live. Still, the torture Ian put her through had nothing on being away from Hotch, Jack, and Bree for six months.

“You're forgiven…I'm the bastard on this one. He may never forgive me, I know Derek. But we’ll move on.”

“We both made some bad decisions where this situation was concerned.”

“Emily, you were nearly stabbed to death. I know what that’s like. Then you endured over a month of recovery followed by months separated from your children. I think its time to focus on the future, not the past.”

“You're forgetting something…the present. Fences have to be mended.”

“Not tonight.” he replied, kissing her forehead.

Emily nodded but there was much more to say. She’d spent practically six months thinking about what she would say to people when she had the chance again. Natalie was her only company during that time away. She’d traveled to Germany three times, twice with Sabrina. Another generation of Prentisses would be well-traveled children for all the wrong reasons.

Thank God her daughter was too young to remember this. It was strange to think that Emily joined the FBI, the BAU, for some semblance of a normal life. It had been anything but since she showed up in Hotch’s office. Still, she wouldn’t give this up for the world. Everything she’d done had been to protect it.

“I need a clove.” Emily exhaled but didn’t leave her husband’s arms.

“I bet. How bad did it get without me there to nag you?” he asked playfully.

“I drank more than I smoked. Drinking in excess alone is the first sign you have a problem. I hated feeling trapped. I hated being away from you, even if I wanted to strangle you. I missed my children so much that the pain became physical. I wanted to be here doing my job and not in some condo like I was on vacation. I knew there were things to do at home.”

“Well you're home now.”

“I know. I never want to leave again.”

“That’s good because I'm never letting you go.” Hotch whispered.

He caressed her face, kissing her passionately. There was no way in hell he’d be able to make up for six months apart. He also would never be able to seek her forgiveness for what he’d done. But Emily was right; they needed to focus on the present. The present was his wife in his arms and his daughter sleeping across the room. The present was Jack coming home this weekend and his house being filled again with the love and laughter of the people he held most dear.

The past was something that Hotch didn’t want to think about right now and he couldn’t predict the future. It had to get better though, right? How much fire did they have to run thought before they finally came out on the other side? If they kept ripping open all the wounds they would never truly heal.

“It’s taking everything I have not to take off your clothes right here and reclaim you.” he whispered, his lips still on hers. “I don’t even care how that sounds; it’s the truth.”

“You’ve been reclaiming me for two weeks, Agent Hotchner. What's stopping you tonight?”

“Sabrina’s in the room. I don’t want her to wake up, see Daddy ravaging Mommy, and then need therapy later in life.”

“You adorable, silly man.” Emily sat up some, kissing his nose. “We’re going to do so many things over the course of her life that'll require therapy. Loving each other isn’t one of them.”

Hotch laughed aloud. He laughed and realized that it was the first time he’d done so since Emily sat him down to tell him about Ian Doyle and the other case from another lifetime ago. Something about it felt happy and sad at the same time.

“I really need that clove.” She reluctantly left his arms and stood from the couch. “I’ll probably have two.”

“You don’t want tea or snacks?”

“No honey, thank you. You should put Bree to bed and I’ll join you in a little while.”

Hotch nodded, standing up as well. He pulled his wife into a hug and again felt like he never wanted to let go. Emily pressed a kiss on his shoulder before distancing herself. An unopened box of Ziganov cigarettes waited for her in the kitchen.

She went to the refrigerator, pulled out the open bottle of Elmo Pio Moscato (cheap but effective), and poured herself a liberal glass. Then she went out on the back deck. It had begun to rain, not hard but steady. Emily sat down at the table and took her cell phone from her pocket. Lighting her clove, she dialed and listened to it ring.

“Hello.”

“Hey. How's Declan?”

“He just went to bed. He’s full of questions that I eventually have to answer. I can't believe he's let me avoid it for this long.”

“You knew this time would come.” Emily said.

“I think I did but I was pretending it wouldn’t. I'm on my own Emily, and I don’t know if I can do this part on my own.”

“That’s not true…that’s never been true. I got you into this and will always support you and Declan. If you want me to be there when you talk to him then I will be. I already know some of what we can tell him. It’s not a good idea to concoct too many lies.”

“You're ahead of me by a mile. I'm still shaking off the fear that I almost lost him. He is my son.”

“He’s safe Tom; we’re all safe. Ian is dead and he took his damn curse with him.”

“Yeah.”

Tom didn’t sound so convinced but Emily couldn’t blame him. He’d been expecting this for a decade…it was hard to wrap his mind around it being over.

“You must be happy to be back with your kids.” He said.

“My God yes.” She exhaled. “I think I squeezed my stepson so hard that he’ll never want another hug. He’s with his Aunt and Uncle tonight but I wish he was home with us. A part of me wants to pack it all in and just be with them all day. Then I remember who I am. These children didn’t deserve the sins of their parents.”

“We got ours and turned out alright.”

“Alright is a relative term.” Emily replied.

“True.” he laughed a bit. “I’d like to talk to Declan on Sunday afternoon if you're available.”

“’I’ll make the time and be there. Goodnight, Tom.”

“Goodnight.”

She hung up the phone, leaving it on the table. Emily took her time with the clove and wine. She wanted to be upstairs naked in her husband’s arms. They'd been fucking like bunnies since she hit domestic soil. She wasn’t prepared to object to that.

Taking a deep breath, she decided that the second clove was a good idea. As much as she wanted to be with Hotch she needed this time too. She was still working on becoming Prentiss again. In a matter of days she would be back in the BAU, living the life she’d grown to love with all her heart. Ian Doyle, that life and those choices, had to go back in the vault.

He was dead…it was finally over. Life wasn’t over though, in a way Emily was beginning again. She’d been there before but it was usually on her own. This time there were fences to mend and bridges to rebuild. She needed to be in her right mind to handle what needed to be handled. Emily wasn’t quite in her right mind yet.

The clove and wine weren't helping like she’d hoped. She’d have to put one foot in front of the other and just walk away. This time needed to be in the rearview mirror. It was the past, the dark past. Emily wanted to bask in the bright lights of the present. One more demon had been slayed…she was closer to free.

“Emily?”

She smiled when she heard Hotch’s voice behind her. She knew it was only a matter of time before he came to get her. Predictable didn’t always mean bad.

“I'm coming.”

Taking one last inhale, Emily put out the clove. She drank her wine, slipped her phone in her pocket, and stood. When she turned around Hotch’s hand was out for her to take. It was so damn good to be home. Everything else was everything else…that was the truth.

When Emily was on the edge of the world and it seemed the only place to go was down, that’s what she held onto. She’d fought tooth and nail for this ‘normal’ life in the midst of chaos. Nothing and no one would take it away from her. They could try but they wouldn’t succeed.

***

  



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